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Why France is America’s Repressed Fantasy

Last week a crazy rumor about France went viral across American media. Someone, somewhere, suggested that in France they’d passed a law forbidding employees from sending work emails after 6 p.m. Ridiculous, right? France is a free-market democracy and the 5th biggest economy in the world, how could you even imagine a law like that? Except that everyone bought it and the rumor spread like wildfire.

What was so easy to believe about it? How come the idea that the French would legally shut down work emails at quitting time was so…credible? How come you’re smirking now as you read this?

If there’s one thing that irritates the French about Americans, it’s when they accuse them of being lazy. If there’s one thing Americans (and Brits) love to think about the French, it’s that they have the option not to work that hard and that the French government fervently enforces this right seemingly not to be productive. The preferred counter-argument to this is the French claim that despite their reputation, statistics show they are actually among the world’s most efficient in terms of hourly labor productivity.

But when the British newspaper The Guardian first published a story about a deal between the French employers’ federation and labor unions requiring staff to switch off their phones after 6pm, with the temptingly shareable headline “When the French Clock Off at 6pm, They Really Mean It,” it got picked up all over UK and US media, from the New York Times (“A Move to Limit Off-the-Clock Work Emails”) to New York magazine (“Two French Unions Ban Checking Work Emails After 6pm”) to USA Today (“France Bans Work Email After 6pm”).

Even Perez Hilton, Hollywood-based celebrity blogger, found the story worthy enough—amusing enough? Enviable enough? Eccentric and social media friendly enough?—to publish a post about it which he then tweeted to his nearly six million followers. Who knew he was such a Francophile.

We need to move to France! RT French Workers Are Now Prohibited From Checking Their Work E-Mail After 6pm! http://t.co/FvYxR5wVDT

The Guardian article was not exactly accurate and the newspaper later published corrections. The accord between unions and corporate representatives seeks to guarantee employees in some high-tech and consulting sectors the “rest” period of 11 consecutive hours to which they are legally entitled. These are employees who contractually do not benefit from the (infamous) 35-hour French work week. There was no imposed cut-off time for emails and the agreement, which would actually affect only 250,000 workers and not one million as the Guardian story claimed, has yet to be approved by the French Labor Ministry.

French reaction the global buzz about their new quitting time ranged from indignant to just weary. After all, the French are used to the rest of the world’s stereotype of them as long-vacation-taking, short-work-week employees. As the French edition of Slate wrote: “As seen from the Unites States or England, French labor law is often summed up as a series of policies created by bureaucrats in order to make sure that lazy workers can get away with doing as little as possible.”

Nonetheless, they really don’t appreciate it. They even have a name (in English!) for what they see as a kind of chronic aggression—French-bashing (“frahntsch-bahsheeng”)—and the grumbling was heard all over social media. Objectively, it was actually a little surprising how fast this (false) story took off. Enough that it actually culminated in a public denial on Twitter by France’s minister of the digital economy, Axelle Lemaire.

Which brings us back to the essential question of why it is that Anglo-Saxon media was so ready to believe the story.

There is something terribly gratifying for Anglos about the idea that there is this place that—in their imaginations at least—is so flagrantly against work. For cultures like the US where there is so much value invested in the idea of work, where working hard is so deeply rooted in the national identity and folklore of social mobility, one of the core values upon which America the great is built—well, for a place like that, actually wanting not to work hard isn’t really something you would readily admit. Because if you don’t work hard in America, who are you? You are, to some extent, a failure.

Or you are, in these overworked imaginations, French. France—or, to be fair, a certain fantasy of France—has become this place where eccentric social values and market-resistant leftist politics encourage not working hard. Fantasy France is both a France that doesn’t entirely exist, as this inaccurate story revealed, and a France that is a kind of dirty secret, something too wrong to admit to desiring. The France of the 35-hour work week, of the 6pm cut-off for work emails, of the long summer vacation months—that France has become a place where Americans can safely project their secret fantasies.

Imagining—and disparaging—this Fantasy France that deliberately doesn’t work hard is a way to sublimate a desire too shameful, too un-American to admit. A perfect recent example is this much buzzed-about Cadillac ad for their first electric car, where you see a chest-pounding corporate tool with the rich man’s essential accessories—big house, big pool, big car—explaining why “we work so hard.” The answer is…because we’re not French! Other countries, they work, stroll home, they stop by the cafe, they take August off. Off. Why aren’t you like that? Why aren’t we like that? Because we’re crazy driven hard workers, that’s why. And in the end, the ad implies, you get the Caddy. The French? They get August off. As for all the stuff? That’s the upside of only taking two weeks off in August. N’est-ce pas?

We have to be able to belittle France, to scoff condescendingly at the quaintness of this land of leisure…. as we mete out our three weeks of annual vacation and tally our billable hours before the bonus talk with the boss who stays in the office even later than we do every night. Because if the French can have their leisure and love themselves too, well, what does that say about us?

Thank goodness the French have such preposterous and laughable ideas about work! Who would want to live like them?

32 thoughts on “Why France is America’s Repressed Fantasy”

The great thing about the Cadillac add is That Cadillac us the name of a nice and quiet French town in the Bordeaux region . So the highest symbol of American hard work is … fruit of this land of leisure. N’est ce pas. No way out, you better surrender and take some rest (as highly efficient workers do) LOL

More than the city ( which is correct), I believe the reference is the Marquis de Cadillac who founded the city of Detroit .
Beside that, educated people know what really France is. A country who always had difficulties to chose between drastic changes and people protection (the state decides for us and we complain when it doesn’t answer to our specific needs). Everyone react to this for France but no one noticed the fact that Volkswagen applied this measure for its staff.
But after the 35 hours law, the destruction of the industry and the lack of internationalisation then everything sounds possible

Thank you so much for the interesting article, Renée, and especially for the advert that says so much about how France is viewed by some in the US… The humo(u)rless, flag-waving bit about the car-keys-left-on-the-Moon-vehicle put me off in a big way, however “us” French are just as guilty when it comes to waving our own flag… A particularly cringe-worthy quote comes to mind, incessantly drummed in our ears, claiming that ours is “THE land of human rights”… It goes to show that the French and the Americans (although I don’t like to generalise/generalize) are undoubtedly united by a common bond, having as a common trait this overinflated ego which they both see as “arrogance” in each other’s national psyches… Which brings me to my final point: what about casting aside flag waving, and opting for flag-“waiving” instead?

Thank you Renée for your article. What I’ve learned in the US, and when one study American politics under the magnifier, is that neo-capitalism needs an enemy, a clown, anything, that prevent the American plebeians to pay attention too closely to the problems the United States face in terms of economics, their wavering democracy, the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, the crumbling infrastructure, the incredibly inefficient health care, the prison business, the trigger-happy cops, the war against science, the 200 dollars school books, Fox News and MSNBC, institutionalized racism, etc… Let’s have a great laugh at those cheese-eating-surrender-monkeys until we cry, we’ll dry those tears of joy with a American flag.

The Frenchies they do not work, they do not take showers, they do not speak English, they do not like business, banks,and they hate their bosses.
The worst with the French is that they do not see what capitalism offers to the poor: great jobs, great benefits, great health coverage, paid vacations, happiness, great subprime…..
We love You too.

Well I am French and i speak English and I have also worked very hard and been exploited by the anglo saxons who never gave me a decent raise so they could keep it all for their own pocket books and enjoy a luxurious life while exploiting others . No matter whether in one such place i put extra hours everyday (a regular one and a half hour minimum unpaid) or that i did all the overtime, i neither got raise, nor any gratitude. I have a word for it : exploitation.

I do not mind working but for a fair recognition, a corresponding salary and some hope of raise and promotion. I did work hard but the recognition and the fair salary were not part of the deal. What i got is the scorn of those who managed us and showed that they deserved the luxury life while we the staff were just “administrative” you know. You see i was just working as a support staff. Well when the support staff stop spending money in the shops where the capitalist make plienty of bucks by overcharging or similar abusive business practices or just because they cannot afford it or are just tired of the system, you’ill see how wonderful this system.

And i know many French people who work their ass off so that some other can enrich themselve even beyond decency. That is the anglo saxon model or should i say the sharking system of the capitalis world of which America is a perfect example is. Funny how many Americans strive and yet some live in the street while others the like of bankers and other profiteers live in indecent luxury. Plus i do not see why speaking English would be a criteria for professional value. After all I am French and very proud of it, no matter what others, who come to France to enjoy the very French lovely things that France has to offer, while showing scorn for us, have to say. And i do not see what Americans or anyone else have to do in telling others how they should live their lives and organise the economic and labour system.

Appartenlty, the American system is not so fantastic considering the extreme disparities that exist between some. And money is not everything in life though a decent salary is,

Life is about balance, measure and enjoyment and not just piling up riches though we all need a comfortable and decent livelihood.

And no we are not lazy and whether or not you like what i say .. i do not care.. after all we are a democracy and we have the right to express ourselves.

And i hope when i retire that maybe i can still work a little, this time for my own benefit .

Well o well… I’ve been working quite a lot with an american company in Dallas (I won’t say the name, don’t ask) as trainer.
Several weeks, during preparation of the training, working from 9:00AM until 8:00PM, the days without meeting because the time difference and the imposibility for a Texan to have a meeting early, days with meeting were ending a 10:00PM.
I was starting at 8:00AM, finishing the day around 7:00AM during the training.

And I promise that my contacts in this company never finished later than 5PM. Usually more like 4PM. Starting at 8:00AM….

Thank you for this very intersting point of view.
It definitly looks as if Anglo-saxons had found the perfect scapegoat to consolidate on this so-called American ethos of hard-workers the Cadillac (by the way a French name) add perfectly illustrates. It reminds me of the times when an American President made fun of that poor Old European country for not having a word for “entrepreneurs”.
Sadly for Americans reality is gloomier.
French culture supports the same values regarding hard-working and the social benefit related to it. As far as figures can reflect reality GDP per capita (PPP) in France is exactly the same as in the United Kingdom. So there must be some work and some productivity out there.
The main difference lies in the social acceptance of the way to split the benefit of work. French workers tend to be more cautious about the lure of working-ethos because they know from experience that their employers won’t pay them much more if they work sensitively better. This is a broadly justified concern because job creation in France remains too low to create a smoother and more dynamic negotiation frame. It’s definitely not a very positive approach and it may foster a dangerous downwards spiral. Nevertheless the way employers reward performance in France is as tough as the way employees defend their advantages. There may be exceptions in some sectors but the funny thing is that the actual situation for many employees in America is even worse! Many fast-food supermarket industry workers in the US are actually facing the same issue. Discussions about inequalities and working poors in America show just how much the nation is challenged by social issues regarding wealth and salaries (contributions from French thinkers like T. Piketty and E. Saez seem to be more welcome in Washington than in Paris).
Working hard is certainly good for those who have the means to purchase the newest Cadillac. And this ethos is certainly very useful to keep people together who face extremely diverging realities. But it’s not always enough to balance social tensions and concerns. Other countries have the right to address the question differently even though constructive and fact-checked suggestions are always welcome.

Americans without history and focus on the economy, are actually jealous of the great France they know the quality of life – as they never reach. France, for America, it is an old and pretty woman who looks with envy and unspoken respect.

Here is my take on this: “Anglo-Saxon”, in the French sense, is not ethnically charged (whereas, in the English language, it tends to be a pseudo-ethnic reference, often hijacked by white supremacists). “Anglo-Saxon”, in its French acceptance, refers to those English-speaking countries where the majority population originates from the British Isles. Aside from the UK and Ireland, it chiefly includes Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and also the US (even though, technically speaking, people of British/Irish descent are probably no longer the majority population in the US). I know that English speakers often have an issue with the French acceptance of “Anglo-Saxon”… It is merely a convenient umbrella term that is used to refer to countries that do, after all, share a great deal in cultural terms, a closeness that is also reflected politically.

I grew up bilingual. So i don’t feel the need to pretend, like u do. This post might be a disguised commercial. In any case its message is wrong. Most americans could not even localize France on a map.

So, I am “pretending”, then? With respect… you don’t know my own background at all. What makes you think I am not bilingual myself? There are quite a few of those, you know… I just feel that opinions can be offered in a respectful manner. As a blogger myself, I know just how hurtful it can be when people feel the need to use very hurtful language.

Your english is French translated. It’s good but u don’t fool a native speaker. American internet etiquette is brutally direct. We still have freedom of speech. France does not. When u post u subject urself to the cosmic response. It’s refreshing. I have nothing against the author, just the contents of the post.
French always obsess about form: that’s dead. Internet killed it. Analyse content, express urself and move on.

Look, I won’t even argue with you, although I too could express reservations regarding your own style and phraseology… A colleague of mine (a native speaker) commented on that very point. It goes to show. The internet is, indeed, very brutal in this regard, as you correctly point out. I work as a journalist for an English-language publication, in an English-speaking country. A job I have been doing for many years. Do you really think I would still be in a job, if others had to fix my English? Incidentally, I love the US and would never rant about a country that I look up to and admire. I made that point when commenting on other articles, actually. I have duly noted your views, and hopefully you have noted mine, so maybe we could leave it at that…

ur correct. english speaking is not american speaking. The post was about the american friend wasn’t it? not the aussie or NZ or whatever minor form of english derivatives.
And who cares? I do speak mexican too, certainly not castillian, which sounds like a cartoon to any south american speaker. I also speak some brazilian portuguese but find the original language difficult to understand. But who really cares about portugal?
OK let’s leave it at that. I never asked for a reply.
The post sucks. In all languages. And that was my point.